Sputter deposition of nanocrystalline beta-SiC films and molecular dynamics simulations of the sputter process.

Thin nanocrystalline films of silicon carbide (SiC) have been deposited on Si substrates by rf magnetron sputtering in pure Ar atmosphere. Simultaneously classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of sputtering of beta-SiC by Ar atoms were performed using IMD and Materials Explorer software with a combination of the Tersoff and the Ziegler-Biersack-Littmark (ZBL) potential in order to get more insight into the sputter process. In experiments the bias voltage (0 to -40 V) has been varied at constant substrate temperature of 900 degrees C to investigate the influence on the composition, the constitution and the mechanical properties of crystalline beta-SiC films. At-second the substrate temperature has been varied between 900 degrees C and 100 degrees C to find the minimum substrate temperature that is needed to get nanocrystalline beta-SiC under the applied sputter conditions (ceramic SiC target, 300 W rf power, 18 cm target-substrate distance, 50 sccm Ar gas flow, 0.26 Pa total gas pressure). The films have been characterized by electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Hardness and residual stress have been investigated by nanoindentation and wafer bending. In the MD simulations the sputter yield was determined as a function of the energy of the incident Ar atoms (in the interesting range for sputter deposition, i.e., 50-1000 eV). To our knowledge this is the first time that the sputter yield of a SiC target was determined as a function of the energy of the incident Ar atoms in the low energy range by using MD simulations and compared with experimental results.